In recent years, Missouri has experienced voter-approved ballot initiatives that have been in conflict with the state’s Republican-led Legislature. Consequently, legislators this year have advanced a proposal to significantly modify the initiative petition (IP) process.
The proposed changes would make it much harder for citizen-led State Constitutional amendments to pass. The legislation, known as Amendment 4, is expected to be on Missouri’s statewide ballot in late 2026.
Governor Mike Kehoe (R) gathered legislators in September for a second Special Session of 2025 to take up the issue. The legislators approved the IP reform in the House of Representatives by a vote of 98-58, and in the Senate, 21-11. Next, it will be the members of the public voting to approve or deny the IP reform.
If voters approve the State Constitutional amendment in 2026, future Constitutional amendments will need to be approved by a simple majority of voters statewide and also by a simple majority of voters in each of the state’s eight Congressional Districts. This new, higher threshold would apply only to Constitutional amendments placed on the ballot by citizen-led initiative petitions, not to those referred by the State Legislature.
Other portions of the proposed Amendment on the ballot would ban foreign funding of ballot measure campaigns and would create a criminal offense for violations. The proposal also includes new requirements for public hearings and for the full text of ballot measures to be available at polling places. Stiffer criminal penalties would also be set for fraudulently signing or gathering signatures for initiative petitions.
The proposed reform was pushed by Republicans in the State Legislature and their dissatisfaction with several recent voter-approved initiatives that have expanded progressive policies, including legalized abortion in 2024, expanded Medicaid in 2020, and a minimum wage increase.
In response to these outcomes, proponents of reform, including Governor Kehoe and Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R), have argued that the current IP process allows out-of-state special interests and concentrated urban voters to pass “out-of-touch policies” that do not reflect the will of the entire state.
At the same time, citizen and activist groups are pushing back against the State Legislature’s changes. One coalition has launched its own initiative petition campaign to get an alternative measure on the 2026 ballot. The proposal would make it more difficult for the State Legislature to amend or repeal voter-approved laws and would require an 80 percent supermajority of the Legislature to alter citizen-initiated laws or call special elections for ballot measures.
Also, legal challenges have been filed, arguing that the new Congressional District requirement is an attempt to suppress votes and violates the “one person, one vote” principle. Other legal challenges and litigation targeting the IP reform are expected.